Ex-defense chief denies links to ouster plot vs Noy

MANILA, Philippines - Former defense secretary and national security adviser Norberto Gonzales denied yesterday he was plotting a coup against President Aquino, saying he would rather see the Chief Executive quit through people power.

“I am against coup d’etat,” he said in a forum yesterday, citing failure of all coup attempts during the first Aquino administration. “Nothing happened in their coup attempt and that is why I told them (military) that for pragmatic considerations, it is not nice to have a coup.”

Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV has tagged Gonzales as the civilian leader of a coup plot against the President.

Gonzales stressed that at 68, he was too old to plot a coup. “Since I am a retired person I only do analysis. Now and then, I check,” he said. But he stressed the country is ripe for change.

“Definitely I’m not busy planning coups. But I am with some religious leaders and bishops. They said if change is to be implemented, it should be real,” Gonzales later told radio dzMM in Filipino.

The defense chief under the Arroyo administration added that the military would only win support in a coup bid if it moves as an institution and not as a fractious group with conflicting loyalties.

“Personally, I am discouraging the AFP, if I still have a little influence over them, I am discouraging them to join any coup,” Gonzales said.

Gonzales is a member of the National Transition Council (NTC), which is calling on Aquino to step down. Council members include Catholic and Protestant bishops. The council is against a violent overthrow of Aquino.

He also said any people power drive against the administration is unlikely to succeed at the moment. Under the current scenario, the people appear not to be keen on launching another people power uprising.

He added that it might take one or two more administration fiascos before Filipinos would feel the need to do another people power.

While public outrage still simmers over the administration’s reported mishandling of the Mamasapano incident, the people are not yet ready to see Vice President Jejomar Binay take over from Aquino.

“You know people power is not something that you plan, it will just come. There are those who are planning (something during the People Power anniversary) but you cannot repeat People Power,” he said.

“Every People Power is unique. If we would celebrate People Power that is to celebrate it, to honor it, to remember it but if you will see if it will trigger another people power I don’t think so,” the former NSA head said.

The Philippine National Police, meanwhile, said it has no intelligence information linking Gonzales to any coup plot.

“But the PNP has ongoing monitoring of any threats, coup plots or destabilization plots. It is our mandate to maintain peace and order, and enforce the law,” spokesman Chief Supt. Generoso Cerbo Jr. said.

Presidential cousin Sen. Bam Aquino said he was baffled by calls for the President’s resignation, considering that the latter had already assumed responsibility for the Mamasapano incident. – With Cecille Suerte Felipe, Christina Mendez